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THE DUTY OF SUSTAINING THE GOVERNMENT. 



A SERMON 



PKEACUED IN 



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On Sunday, May 19, 1861, 



BY REV. I. N. SPRAGUB, 

PASTOR OF THE CHURCH. 



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NEWARK, N. J.: 

PRINTED AT THE DAILY ADVERTISER OFFICE. 
1861. 



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Caldwell, May 20, 18fil. 
Rev. I. N. SPRAGUE, 

Dear Sir : 

At the request of a number of your 

Congregation, who feel that the publication of the Sermon delivered by you 

yesterday, will be of permanent advautajje to the cause of civil and religious 

liberty, we ask that you will allow the same to be published, and thus oblige 

your numerous patriotic parishioners. 

Yours, truly, 

LEWIS C. GROVER, 
A. C. GOULD, 
N. O. BALDWIN, 
RUFUS F. HARRISON, 

and others. 



LEWIS C. GROVER, Esq., 

and others, 

Gentlemen : 

The sermon is at your service, 

though written in haste and with less than the usual time of preparing a 

written discourse, and perhaps for that very reason the better. 

Yours, &c., 

I. N. SPRAGUE. 
Caldwell, May 21, 1861. 



SEHMON 



" Let every soul be Bubject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power but of 
God : the powers that be arc ordained of God."— Romans siii: 1. 

I have chosen this passage as my text, that I might call your 
attention to a sermon on the subject of the present stirring 
times. Never, since the days of the Eevolution, have the pul- 
pits of our land sounded out with such clear notes of patriot- 
ism, without any reference to party politics, as within a few 
weeks past. Nor has this outspoken patriotism been confined 
to the limits of any sect or denomination in religion, nor to 
any shade of party in politics. The pulpits of the entire 
North have uttered but one sound, and that has been clear and 
unmistakable, urging upon all to sustain the Government and 
Constitution and Laws, as the paramount duty of the times. 

I would not be behind my brethren in the ministry in my 
love and zeal for my Country, or in my willingness to use my 
sacred ofl&ce in all appropriate efforts to sustain law and order 
in opposition to misrule and rebellion. And I am happy that 
I can do so on this occasion, without meddling at all with the 
peculiar sentiments and doctrines of any political party. 
What I have to say ivill and must, I think, commend itself to 
the judgment and conscience of every one who loves his coun- 
try, and who wishes to retain and enjoy the blessings of an 
orderly government and a peaceful home. 

Within a few months past, God has been rolling up mighty 
events in our country. The most peace-loving nation on earth? 
we are suddenly convulsed with revolutions and wars. From 
the highest state of security, we are suddenly thrown into the 
deepest peril. The quiet pursuits of industry are laid aside 
and the nation is rushing to arms. These are unusual events 



in such a country as onrs. They may well startle and alarm 
and electrify and fill every patriotic bosom with thrilling 
anxieties. 

In such a state of things there are lessons of Providence, 
which it becomes us to study well ; lessons of duty which ap- 
peal strongly to every heart that is religious or patriotic. 

The general sentiment contained in the text is, That human 
governments are an ordinance of God, and, as such, are to he re- 
spected and sustained. 

"Without following the special line of thought which the 
Apostle starts in the text, I call your attention to a few con- 
siderations connected with the stirring events of the times. 

1. The Government of these United States is evidently 

THE BEST government ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH. 

I hardly need stop to gather the proofs of such a proposition, 
to an audience enlightened on the subject of the forms and 
fruits of different governments. "We have lived so quietly and 
happily under our Government — we have enjoyed its blessings 
and benefits so much as a matter of course — that we are in 
great danger of undervaluing that, which is the source and 
fountain of all the peculiar advantages which we enjoy. Go 
and dwell abroad for any length of time ; study well the fruits 
of other governments, in the morals of the people, in the con- 
ditions of society, and especially in the moral and social state 
of the masses, and you would be sure to come home deeply 
impressed with the superior character, and more excellent 
workings of your own government. In some countries, claim- 
ing to be enlightened and christian, you must read your Bible 
by stealth, and hold a social prayer meeting of half a dozen 
persons in some out of the way, concealed place, lest, for this 
act of conscientious worship, you should be arrested and thrown 
into prison. In others, you cannot speak your free thoughts 
above your breath, for fear of armed spies at your very elbow? 
who are the minions and tools of some despot who can retain 
his power only as he represses thought and speech. In others, 



you see a Eoyal family and a titled nobility, squandering in 
luxurious idleness untold millions of money which they never 
earned ; carefully keeping up all those lines of caste in society 
which kill ambition and hope and enterprise in the masses. 

In our country every man is a sovereign, and the equal of 
his fellow. All are citizens, standing on the same level of 
equality. Every man is what he makes himself, rising to emi- 
nence by the mere force of his own energies, or plodding in 
the lowlier pursuits of life for the want of those energies. 
Every man can be the owner and lord of the soil on which he 
lives ; he can sil down under It is oivn vine and Jig-tree as secure 
in his rights as if he were the despot of an empire. He can 
command the means of his own enlightenment and progress, 
and he can leave to his children all the advantages of wealth 
and cultivation which he can gather. Every man is clothed 
with the privilege of helping to choose his rulers and make the 
government, and if that government goes wrong, at the bidding 
of the sovereign masses, it can be changed and put into other 
hands. No government on earth pours so many blessings 
upon the people as ours. Education, religion, and all social 
privileges are enjoyed by all, in a degree not equalled by any 
other people on the face of the globe. What security to life ? 
We all go unarmed. What security to property ? The law 
takes care of the thief and the swindler. If, in the progress of 
time and changes, our government is found to be defective, 
there is an element within the Constitution that makes pro- 
vision for its own improvement. See what a nation has grown 
up under this government in a little more than eighty years ; 
grand and noble in its elements as well as in its achievements. 
Never, so much, as within a few weeks, have I known how to 
value and prize a good government, and especially such a gov- 
ernment as ours. 

2. There exists, in our laxd, a deep-laid conspiracy 
TO break up and destroy this government 

Whoever looks at this Southern rebellion as having arisen 
only from recent causes, and as aiming only at a peaceful di- 



-8 

vision of our country into two governments, that could live 
side by side in harmony, takes only a narrow and partial view 
of the subject. When this rupture first burst upon us, the cry 
rang through the land, that Abolition had done this — that the 
South had been denied their equal rights — and that their rights 
even had been denied, by a refusal on the part of the North to de- 
liver up their fugitive chattels when demanded. Upon these 
grave charges, all honest men at tlie North began to look 
about them and inquire. What had we done inconsistent with 
that law of love and good neighborhood, which requires us to 
do to others as we would that they should do unto us ? But 
the South soon relieved us of these grave charges, by coming 
forward of their own accord and telling us that their plan of 
an independent confedecracy had been a long meditated 
scheme, dating back to a period before technical abolitionism 
had a beo^inning. It was quite evident that they only made 
these charges a pretence, that they might have some plausible 
pretext for their action, and some ground on which to ask the 
sympathy and aid of others, to help them carry out their 
plans. The South, from the beginning, has been like a petted 
child in the flimily of States. With only one-third of the 
population, she has had more than one-half of the Presidents, 
and near, if not quite, two-thirds of all the offices in the gen- 
eral government, in the army and navy, and as representatives 
at foreign courts. For every fugitive slave who has been 
rescued out of the hands of his master by a Northern mob, 
there have been ten Northern men, (according to a record kept 
by one minister,) ten Northern men that have been lynched, 
and tarred and feathered, or hung by a Southern mob, without 
any just cause. These things on both sides, have been wrong. 
But if outrage should be properly balanced against outrage, 
and the number were to be counted, the South, I apprehend, 
should be the last to complain. 

I have said that by their own confession this conspiracy 
against our Government dates back to a period beyond the 
influence of recent causes. To understand it, we must look 



over some of the facts in our national history. Previous to 
the Revolution, the thirteen States, which then existed, were 
colonies of Great Britain, and each one independent of the 
other. For the purpose of gaining their independence of the 
mother government, they entered into a confederacy, in which 
they agreed to join together for their mutual defence and sup- 
port. In that confederacy there was a general Congress, but 
there was also independent State sovereignty. Each State 
had the right, in its own sovereignty, to receive or reject any 
act of Congress. The general government had. no power to 
enforce its laws in any State, if that State objected. This 
confederacy continued for eleven years after the Declaration 
of Independence, and until 1787. The country had the expe- 
rience of it for four years after the war of the Revolution 
closed. It worked well in time of war, when there was a 
common interest to unite, and a common enemy to repel ; but 
it was found not to be so well adapted to times of peace. 
There was too much clashing of the State governments with 
the general government. In 1787, Virginia was the first to 
propose a general convention, to revise the articles of the con- 
federation, and settle the government on a more permanent 
basis. That Convention met in Philadelphia. It consisted of 
fifty -five delegates from the different States, each State being 
represented, except Rhode Island. These delegates were pat- 
riots and statesmen of no mean rank, and they went to their 
work, with Washington their presiding officer, as delegate 
from Virginia. History tells us that they first attempted to 
revise and amend the old confederate system ; but becoming 
convinced of its unfitness for the purposes of a consolidated 
general government, they concluded to frame a constitution 
for a permanent, national government, in which Congress 
should be supreme and the States subordinate. Several 
months were spent in calm, wise, and prayerful deliberation. 
The result was ow National Constitution, forming a consolidated 
government, instead of a confederacy. Of course no State 
was compelled to adopt this constitution ; but when, by a 



10 

regular Convention, any State did adopt it, slie was bound by 
it. All the States did, ultimately, adopt it, and so has every 
State that has since been added to the Union. 

Among the things which are explicitly named as being sur- 
rendered by the different States to the general government 
are the following, in the ninth section of the first article of the 
Constitution, ^Hhat no State shall enter into any treaty, allia7ice, 
or confederation; grant letters of marque or reprisal f '■'■ that no 
State shall, without the consent of Congress, enter into any agree- 
ment or compact luith another State, or with a foreign power.^^ In 
subscribing to this section of the constitution, each State dis" 
tinctly surrendered its sovereignty in these particulars ; and 
of course any act of any State to do these things named, is in 
violation of the constitution, and against the very life of the 
general government. 

But, as if to settle this matter of the subordination of State 
sovereignty to Congress, the sixth article of the constitution is 
still more explicit. The middle section of it is as follows : 
" This constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall 
he made in pursuance thereof and all treaties made, or luhich shall 
he made under the authority of the United States, SHALL BE THE 
SUPREME LAW OF THE LAND / and the judges in every Sta^ 
shall he hound thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any 
State to the contrary notwithstanding J ^ Now whether this clause 
of the constitution, so plain and clear and full, leaves any 
margin whatever for the doctrine of State sovereignty, which 
is the grand pretence of this Southern movement, judge ye. 
Of course any one can see that such a doctrine can be nothing 
else than treasonable, and if carried out, fatal to the govern- 
ment. 

Now it appears that this doctrine of State subordination to 
the general government has not been pleasing to some of the 
leaders of the Southern section of the Union ; and more than 
thirty years ago they began the work of undermining the gen- 
eral government, by preaching and getting adherents to the 
doctrine of State rights. Here began the doctrine of seces- 



11 

sion — a doctrine wliicli, under tlie circumstances, contains the 
very essence of treason and rebellion. 

A practical trial of the truth and strength of the doctrine 
was made in 1832, in which South Carolina undertook to 
assert and maintain her State sovereignty over the general 
government, in setting aside and refusing to obey a law of 
Congress. If we had had in the Presidential chair, at that 
time, a man of a weak hand and faint heart, that act of South 
Carolina would have ripened into a fall rebellion. But the 
prompt action of the government strangled the coiling rattle- 
snake, (fit emblem for a State that then and ever since has 
been reeking with the poison of treachery.) The seeds of re- 
bellion then begun to be sown have been scattered abroad, 
and taking root in the Southern soil from that day to this. 

During the progress of years, there have been many things 
that have been calculated to irritate and provoke and strengthen 
the South, in their determination to put themselves in an atti- 
tude of hostility. The North has increased rapidly in popula- 
tion, and grown rapidly in wealth ; while the South has made 
very slow progress. Laws have been made to encourage the 
free industry and manufactures of the North, which could not 
be of equal benefit to the South. And, more than all, there 
has arisen, in the North and all over the Christian world, a dis- 
position to enquire into the character and workings of certain 
peculiar domestic institutions ; as to their bearing on morals, 
on religion, on politics and on national prosperity. All these 
things have had their effect upon the quick, mercurial tempers 
of the South, and served to ripen the seeds of dissatisfaction 
into the spirit of rank rebeUion. The South were willing to 
remain with us as long as they could make the government 
work to their advantage ; but when they could no longer rule 
they seem determined to ruin. They evidently saw a time 
coming which would be a favorable one for their purposes- 
They had so much of the general government in their hands, 
that they could make large preparations for determined action. 
Never did the world look upon men more deeply infamous, 



12 

and more foully perjured, tlian those officers of our govern- 
ment, who had deliberately sworn to support the Constitution 
and Laws of the United States, and who were plotting, all the 
while, to overthrow the very government which they had 
sworn to support. How Southern arsenals were filled with 
arms and then seized, with forts and mints and moneys ; and 
how the government was held back by these perjured office- 
holders, from putting any check upon these lawless proceed- 
ings, you all know. 

But had they not a right to secede, say you ? Yes ; just as 
much as the Devil, the first secessionist, had a right to secede 
from the government of God ; just as much as Adam had a 
right to eat the forbidden fruit in Eden ; just as much as this 
town has a right to say, they will throw off the laws of the 
State and make laws for themselves. Just this right had the 
South to secede, and no more. 

But why not let them go ? The reasons why we cannot let 
them go, are many and strong. They are a part of our coun- 
try and government. They are solemnly bound up with us in 
the same Constitution and laws. Two governments can not 
and must not be allowed to exist on this soil, under circum- 
stances which would evidently bring us into constant collision. 
United ive stand ; divided we fall. The very foundation of their 
new " Confederacy" is laid in injustice and oppression, — an 
intsitution, against which the civilized world is rising up in 
judgment ; which God winked at, and allowed, in the days of 
semi-barbarism, as he did Polygamy, but which is now seen 
and known to be against every principle of natural justice and 
religious benevolence. Such a government, founded upon the 
principle of fundamental wrong, and following out the legiti- 
mate laws of its own formation, would not be long in calling 
down upon itself the execrations of the civilized world ; for 
they would become like the children of Esau, their hands 
against every man, and every man's hand against them. Inter- 
linked as all parts of this country are, by natural boundaries 
and navigable streams, it would be fatal to the interests of this 



13 

continent, to allow tlie existence of siicli a government. And 
more than all, to allow the principle of voluntary secession, 
would be suicidal to our own government. The inevitable 
effect would be, to admit to our bosom a viper that would be 
sure to sting us to death. I tried hard to think that it might 
be best to allow secession, and dismiss our Southern brethren 
with a blessing, and let them do the best they could ; but the 
more I thought, the clearer I saw that it could not be done 
without the risk, if not the certainty, of scattering our own 
government to the winds. 

Sometimes iniquity brings on its own punishment, and de- 
feats itself, and works its own ruin, in its own natural fruits. I 
think it would have been so in this case, if it had been safe 
to allow our Southern brethren to have gone on a few months 
longer. Their "Confederacy" would have shown itself a rope 
of sand, and the members of it would soon have been fighting 
and clashing among themselves. But they were stealing so 
enormously, and carrying on their iniquitous proceedings with 
such a high hand and such a boastful impudence, that soon we 
should have been without a Capitol, and the sinews of our 
strength would have been cut, one after another, and they 
would have extended their pall of death and ruin over us all. 
This they intended and boasted that they would do, and they 
supposed that they would have so much sympathy and help 
from the North, as to enable them to do it. They attributed 
the masterly inactivity of the Government to weakness, and 
a spirit of co-operation with themselves, and they reckoned 
upon it as a certain pledge of their success. Forbearance was 
exercised full long enough : it was carried to its farthest limit. 

There is a time for all things ; and the time did come^ when 
the Government arose in its majesty and power, and began to 
take strong measures, and call things by their right names. 
The war that is upon us, could not have been avoided. No 
compromise was possible, that could have saved the Govern- 
ment and the nation. A partial compromise might have made- 
peace for a time ; but war would have been sure to come in the 



u 

end. It is found to be a fact in history, that a compromised 
peace is likely to be short-lived ; while a conquered peace is 
much more likely to be enduring and permanent. 
I remark — 

8. That it is now the clear duty of all patriotic 
citizens to rally for the strong and vigorous 
support of the government. 

The South have acted long enough in this matter of secession 
to show their true colors, and their earnest intentions. They 
know, as well as we, that no two governments like theirs and 
ours can exist side by side. They know that their existence 
depends on our overthrow and subjection. As long as they 
could make progress, and gain treasure and territory, by steah 
ing, they would rather have peace than war ; and so they stole 
and violated their solemn oaths to the government, and filled 
up the Southern arsenals, and robbed the public treasury, and 
committed open acts of treason, and still cried for peace. They 
were all for peace. ''All we want," says their President 
" is to be let alone," And that is all the thief or the mur- 
derer want: they want the privilege of committing their 
crimes, and then to be let alone. But this could not be. 
Even God's forbearance has a limit ; if too long abused, 
it gives place to judgment and justice. Had any foreign 
power committed against us the hundredth part of the out- 
rage which has been committed by the South against the. 
government, we should have been at war long ago. Forbear- 
ance is a blessed virtue, and I am not sorry that it has been ex- 
ercised to its fullest extent ; though if it had ended long before, 
it would probably have saved us thousands of lives and mil- 
lions of money. Exercised as long as it was, the effect has 
been to secure great unity of sentiment and harmony of action 
at the North. When the government said to the South, " You 
have gone far enough, you must now bring back what you 
have taken treasonably," the whole North responded Amen. 
And then such a rising of the people was never witnessed since 



15 

the world began. The lines of party dropped instantly, like 
the cords from Sampson's arms, when he rose in his strength. 
Neighbor grasped his neighbors hand, and asked, "Shall we 
have a government ? or shall we yield to anarchy and despot- 
ism?" This simultaneous uprising of the people ; this obliter- 
ation of party lines ; this rushing together for the common de- 
fence of the best government on the globe, will be recorded in 
history as one of the most sublime and majestic movements 
that ever occurred ou earth. This great and wonderful move- 
ment is evidently of God. 

I have said that war is upon us. What we all dreaded, and 
hoped would never come in this land, is actually upon us ; a 
civil war in the same country, and between brethren of a com- 
mon origin and religion. And to use the language of one of 
the most conservative and learned divines, in his speech be- 
fore the American Tract Society — "It is," said he, "a holy 
war ; a holier war never drove a saint to his knees or a mar- 
tyr to the stake." I believe this most heartily, and most 
heartily can I pray that God would give it success. 

It is not an aggressive war — a war of conquest — a war to 
add territory to us that belonged to others. Then it would 
be wicked. 

It is not a war for retaliation and revenge, to gratify hate 
and malice, and take vengeance. In this case, too, it would 
be wrong. 

It is not a war of section against section. The North does 
not hate the South ; and wlien tlie contrary assertion is made 
and spread broadcast over the South, in party newspapers, it is 
a base libel. No doubt the ignorant masses at the South believe 
that the North hates them, and they are made to believe it by 
party demagogues, for their own selfish ends. All intelligent 
people at the South know that this is not true. 

Nor is this a war between freedom and slavery. It is true, 
that if there had been no slavery in our country this war could 
never have come ; and it is true, also, that ou the part of the 
South the whole movement of secession has originated, according 
to their own confession, in the one motive to sustain, and extend, 



16 

and perpetuate slavery, for there has arisen among them a per- 
fect fury of pro-slavery fanaticism. Yet, on the part of the North, 
slavery has had nothing to do with their motives in carrying on 
this war. What will be the result of the war upon this institu- 
tion no man can tell. Should the South siibmit in time, and 
deliver up their traitor leaders, they will save this darling domes- 
tic institution of theirs ; or should they succeed in conquering us, 
and bring in their government in the place of ours, then they 
will spread this institution over all the land. But should they 
take such a course as to protract the war and make it desperate, 
they run a great risk of losing all their hold upon slavery in 
more ways than one. At present, much as the changes have 
been rung upon abolition, I do not believe that there could be 
foixnd five hundred men in all the North, of any respectable 
standing, who would do the South one single act of injustice in 
regard to their slaves. This war on the part of the North has 
no reference to the subject of slavery. 

It is a war for preservation — for self-defence — for our very ex- 
istence; a war to decide whether we have a government — 
whether we have a country ; whether we shall have the protection 
of a constitution and laws, or Avhether our constitution and laws 
shall be stricken down and trodden under foot, and our govern- 
ment torn to fragments. An able writer has said that there are, 
in this Southern movement, but three natural steps — Secession, 
Anarchy, Despotism. If we could afford to let the South alone 
for a while, they would evince the truth of this natural progress. 
There is a reign of terror there now, and thousands are leaving 
all, and fleeing for their lives. 

This war is for our liberties, our firesides, our homes ; for our 
freedom of thought and speech ; for our schools, our churches, 
and our very citizenship. We have a thousand times more at 
stake than we had in the war of the Revolution, Then, it was 
virtually a three-penny tax on tea ; and now, it is whether we 
shall have a free government or a despotism — order or anarchy. 
Never in all my life have I looked xTpon a strong, stable, free 
government, as so great a blessing, as since that government has 
been threatened with being overthrown. Said one eminent di- 
vine to me last week, one who spent a recent winter in the South, 



17 

and who well understands Southern Society, " We can well afford 
to lose one hundred thousand lives, and expend five hundred mil- 
lion dollars, if we can only establish our government on a firm, 
permanent basis ; it may ruin this generation, but the govern- 
ment will be preserved as a blessing for future generations." 

It has been said of wars, that they are never inaugurated with- 
out reasons, nor are they carried on for mere abstractions ; there 
are always great principles, great ideas, at the end of the bay- 
onet. This war has great principles, great ideas, connected with 
it. It is not a war for conquest, nor for revenge, nor for triumph 
of section over section, nor for the destruction of Southern insti- 
tutions. But it is a war of order against anarchy, of law against 
mobs, of government against lawlessness, of patriotism against 
rebellion, of loyalty against treason, of Union against confede- 
racy, of nationality against disintegration. Setting aside the 
causes, in which there have been too many on both sides, there 
never was a war in which the truth and right and justice were 
more completely on one side. I think we shall see, as it pro- 
gresses, and the character of it and the principles involved come 
to be more clearly understood, that all Christian governments 
and the whole Christian world will justify the North and condemn 
the South. 

How clear, then, the duty of every friend of order and law 
and of the pubUc welfare, to rally to the support of the govern- 
ment ! During the last month there has been witnessed one of 
the most sublime spectacles the world ever saw, in the triumph 
of patriotic principle over party feeling. The present Adminis- 
tration was put into power by a party, but if it Avere now sus- 
tamed only by that party, and the opposite party were to with- 
hold their influence, or throw that influence in favor of Soiithern 
rebelUon, as the South confidently expected, then would the ruin 
of the country and the Government be complete. But when the 
crisis came, and men were called in Providence to take sides, that 
very party that were not in favor of the Administration came for- 
ward promptly and nobly to its support. Patriotism triumphed 
over party feeling and preferences. Party lines were abolished 
S^party criminations were laid aside. Among the strongest and 
vost able supporters of the Government at this moment, are the 



18 

very men who made the strongest opposition to the election of 
the men who now compose that Government. I never saw the 
hand of God more clearly, or the Divine approbation of our great 
national unity more manifest, than in this general movement to 
abjure all party politics for the sake of the common welfare. 
Indeed this movement is so general that it is only now and then 
that you hear the low mutterings of some unpatriotic soul, keep- 
ing up the ribaldry of party slang, and suggesting to every one 
the painful inquiry, "Wouldn't that man be a traitor if he 
dared ?" All such I pity as well as blame, for they will be sure 
to inherit a name and a reputation not very odorous of honors. 

Such a cause as that which our Government is now contending 
for, every true patriot can heartily sustain, and every true Chris- 
tian can heartily pray foi*. We have now in the Presidential 
chair the only man in that office, (save the good Washington,) 
who, though not a professing Christian himself, yet publicly asked 
the prayers of all the people that he might be gifted with wisdom 
in his difficult position. We can pray, too, heartily for such a 
soldiery as we have in the field. It has been said that such an 
army, with so many praying men among them, from churches 
and Sabbath School teachers and Bible classes, has never been in 
the field since Cromwell's days, A large number of these regi- 
ments have carried not only their Bibles and hymn-books, but 
their chaplains and their prayer-meetings with them. Such an 
army will strive to get victorious without much bloodshed — will 
commit very few lawless acts of violence— will be sure to treat 
the vanquished with kindness and generosity, while they will see 
the perfect justice of hanging the traitorous leaders of this rebel- 
lion. When they have conquered a peace, as I trust in God they 
will, they will return to the peaceful pursuits of their former in- 
dustry, with the blessings of the nation and of future generations 
resting on their heads. And as time moves on, and the nation 
prospers, and the arts and sciences floui'ish, the scenes and inci- 
dents that are now occuiTing will be woven into tales of fact and 
fiction and romance, recalling to our children and our children's 
children a very critical period in American history — the stirring 
times of the Southern rebellion. 

But I have said enough : though not enough to exhaust the 



/ 
/ 



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19 

ject, and not more than enough to satisfy the demands of the 
patriotic spirit of the day. I could well occupy the time of a 
whole discourse in looking into the moral character of this rebel- 
lious movement, over which our Southern brethren are making 
their boasts, and praying, with such mistaken views of the 
righteousness of their cause, and of the Divine approbation. A 
movement, having its origin in a settled determination to prop up 
and perpetuate an institution, abhorrent to every principle of 
justice, and humanity and religion ; a movement whose leaders 
are men who have violated their sacred oaths, and robbed the 
public treasury, and stolen the public j^i'operty, and who are now 
encouraging the whole South to repudiate their private Northern 
debts, that they may have more money to carry on their rebel- 
lion ; a movement, in Avhich the masses of the people are wheedled 
and deceived and hampered, and deprived ot the j^rivilege of free 
voting ; a movement, in which free citizens, union-men, are driven 
from the country in scores and hundreds and thousands, that the 
rebels may have everything their own way; so that it is said that 
more free white citizens have been driven from the South, in the 
two months past, than the South ever lost in runaway slaves since 
the government began ; and all that remain at the South are 
obliged to vote one way, or suffer the loss of all things. Such a 
movement never has had, and never can have the Divine appro- 
bation. God must alter in his own moral character before He can 
approve such a movement. Even if the movement should succeed 
it would be, to me, no evidence of the Divine approbation. It 
would be one of those triumphs of the \vicked, which God might 
allow for a time, but which he would be sure to overrule for xalti- 
mate good. To the true patriot and christian there is but one 
side to this question, and I want myself, and I want you, all of 
you, to be on the side of truth and justice, and constitution 
and government, against meanness and falsehood and treason. 

Before I close, allow me to address a few words to the ladies. 
I need not state how much you have at stake, in this contention 
of government against anarchy. If there is anything that you 
can do, with wilhng hearts and ready hands you should become 
volunteer;^^, for the whole period of the war. I have an idea that 
there will nt»t be very much bloodshed. The old hero, who is the 



20 

leader of our armies in this conflict, never lost a battle, and never 
needlessly threw away men's lives. It is said of him, that his 
tread will be slow, but it will be the tread of a giant. And yet 
your services, ladies, will be just as much needed, as if you were 
called upon to become nurses around the sick and wounded and 
dying. You will be needed to act vigorously and promptly 
thouo"h it may be at home. Let it be yours to look well after the 
support and comfort of the families of our soldiers in the field. 
All honor to the men, to the married men, to the fathers, who 
have gone at their country's call, to the exposures of the camp 
and the battle field. I prophesy, that they will be recorded 
heroes in history, and our children will rise up and call them 
blessed. Let their families be cared for by our patriotic ladies, 
callino" in, as they shall need it, the aid of the patriotic men. Who 
can fully enter into the feelings of the soldier-husband in the 
camp, and the soldier's wife, left desolate at home ? I take ofi' 
my hat to that soldier as the guardian and defender of my liber- 
ties. I would cheerfully divide my pittance with his wife and 
family. We have, I believe, but two soldiers gone from among 
us who have families ; I wish we had more. One of them was 
met on his way by one of our citizens, wlio saw a tear start into 
that soldier's eye at the mention of leaving his family. That 
citizen gave him the assurance that his family should be cared for 
if they should want. Let that j^ledge be redeemed. Ladies, let 
this work be yours, and you may be sure that you will have the 
hearty co-operation of every patriotic and christian man. 

Let us all remember that our town bears an honored name — 
the name of a man*, who was an active patriot, as well as a most 
worthy chaplain of Revolutionary times, who, with his not less 
noble wife, laid their lives and poured out their blood upon the 
altar of freedom. Such a town, bearing a name so redolent of 
blessed memories, ought not to have any other than the true jsai- 
r'loiic ring, 

* Rev. Mr. CaldweU, of Elizabetli Town. 



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